AFL grand final 2021: Latest updates on venue, date and time of decider

The Grand Final start time has all but been decided and it will mean another late night for footy fans on the eastern seaboard. Was it the right call?

The Perth Stadium Grand Final will be a twilight contest broadcast into Melbourne as a night game as the league safeguards the finals by hosting the Western Bulldogs in Perth this week.

As revealed by the Herald Sun last month, the AFL Grand Final will start at between 5pm and 5.30pm in Perth.

It will mean a second consecutive night season decider final for families in Melbourne starting at between 7pm-7.30pm with an extended half time to cater for Grand final entertainment.

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It’ll be a night grand final for those in eastern states. Picture: Getty Images

Host broadcaster Seven has already spruiked a Grand final in “prime time” in Sydney and Melbourne in press releases in the last week.

The league decided to fly the Western Bulldogs from Brisbane to Perth to stay at the Crown Plaza this week despite them playing at the Adelaide Oval on Saturday night.

The league’s risk mitigation strategies meant flying the Dogs into the city with the harshest border restrictions in case of a mid-week Covid lockdown.

In the event of an outbreak in Adelaide the league only wanted the challenge of flying one AFL team into Perth, with Port Adelaide awaiting the Dogs for Saturday’s Adelaide Oval contest.

The league has also been able to guarantee the Dogs will start their 14-day quarantine period over the weekend despite flying into Adelaide using a sterile corridor.

AFL boss Gillon McLachlan is preparing to lock in a twilight Perth grand final.

So if the Dogs beat the Power and return to Perth for the Grand final they will only need one more week of quarantine before being released into the community a week before the Grand Final.

The AFL plans a list of activities including the Brownlow Medal on the Sunday night of Grand Final week as well as an AFL official AFL lunch, a Carbine Club lunch and the presentation of the Grand Final teams to fans in the city.

The Dogs are allowed the run of the Crown Plaza Hotel including common areas for meals and an area to stretch their legs away from hotel rooms.

LAST WEEK: AFL expected to schedule twiling Perth Grand Final

The AFL is expected to schedule a twilight Perth Stadium Grand Final which would allow host broadcaster Seven to boast a 7pm-7.30pm start time in Melbourne.

The league will secure the permission of the Victorian state government to move the contest to Perth next week, which will allow the AFL to finalise its grand final plans.

Last year after Brisbane won the grand final the Gabba contest started at 6.30pm, with the game broadcast into Melbourne at 7.30pm local time.

The league is aware of the impact of a night start to the game on the eastern seaboard for families with young kids keen to watch the game.

The 2021 decider also has the prospect of finishing around 18 minutes later than last year’s game given a return to long quarters as well as an extended half time due to grand final entertainment.

Richmond 2020 premiership defence finished at 11.17pm after on-field delays including injuries to Gary Ablett, Nick Vlastuin and Sam Simpson

Ablett and Nick Vlastuin were injured in a pair of brutal onfield collisions which occurred within seconds in the first quarter.

But the desire to maximise ratings and turn the game into a TV spectacle with likely half time entertainment falling on dusk or dark will see the game falling in that Perth 5pm-5.30pm slot.

It is understood the league would ideally like to host the Brownlow Medal on the Sunday or Monday of grand final week with a Perth function and satellite venues across the country.

In a best-case scenario players from multiple clubs who had quarantined for 14 days would be able to attend that function in person.

But the league should be able to host a Perth in-person function with smaller venues across Australia that could have separate red carpets as well as zoom facilities for players in NSW.

Sydney will still be in lockdown in late September, while in all likelihood Melbourne will be as well given the scope of the current outbreak.

A delegation of media and AFL officials has already flown out to Perth in anticipation for multiple finals there in coming weeks.

But AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan is only likely to move his way west in coming weeks once the grand final is officially in Perth.

He announced this week the league’s official back-up venue for the grand final is Perth Stadium.

Originally published as AFL grand final 2021: Latest updates on venue, date and time of decider